Truth and Democracy have always had a troubled relationship, but perhaps never as troubled as now. From Plato’s Noble Lie to Kellyanne Conway’s Alternative Facts, there has always been a tension between the presentation of an objective truth and the exercise of political power. Michael Ignatieff, himself an academic turned not particularly successful politician, mused that this is why academics generally make such poor political operators. Nevertheless, there is a cruel irony in the fact that at a time when knowledge is more abundant than ever before, the truth is such a contested issue.

The forces behind this are nearly impossible to untangle as they reinforce and amplify each other. The partisan nature of many media outlets hardly needs to be mentioned. This has generally been prevalent on the right, with Fox News and the Daily Mail having mastered the selective use of facts. The Daily Mail splashes the front page with stories of benefit cheats and jihadis while relegating the murder of a sitting MP by a white nationalist to page 30 while Fox News has long abandoned the appearance of impartiality expected of TV news networks.

In the midst of liberal handwringing over the election of Donald Trump, American liberals have also begun to indulge in some of the fake news promoting and conspiracy theorising for which they have long mocked the right. Desperate to believe the worst about Trump, people are turning to talk show hosts like Rachel Maddow and Twitter celebrities like Louise Mensch for comforting stories which seem to show the President’s impending impeachment. Although the current scandals swirling around the administration may well bring down Trump, at this stage many on the left look like Glen Beck with his chalk board. This is perhaps an understandable instinctual response, but it is not a helpful one.

Counter-intuitive as it may be, as the plurality of potential news sources increases the public’s exposure to alternative ideas seems to decrease. Social Media algorithms, the availability of like-minded communities and the wide availability of partisan alternative news sources have conspired to create echo chambers in which dissenting voices can be blocked out. This allows organisations like Breitbart to safely muddy the truth or tell outright lies.It has long been understood that people seek out news which confirms rather than contradicts their previously held notions. This may explain why people who no longer believe the word of the FBI or Justice Department are willing to believe Steve Bannon or John Oliver. In the internet age, this building of echo chambers is easier than ever. Indeed, as Eli Pariser has persuasively argued in ‘The Filter Bubble’, it is almost impossible to avoid.

Another driving force behind the contested nature of the truth is the division of society along a variety of identity-based lines, which works with our polarised media landscape to reinforce the vicious cycle of adversarialism sweeping across much of the democratic world. LGBT rights activists willing, perhaps with good cause, to believe the worst of the Trump administration have been caught out by fake news. However, it is from the other side of the political divide that the most worrying examples come from. Although many people have been keen to focus on the economic factors involved in the Trump election, it is undeniable that racial identity played a role with white voters at all income levels voting for Trump. This is not a new factor in US elections, but a newer and more ominous development is the fact that issues of racial and religious identity skewed the public’s understanding of basic facts. Philip Klinker’s analysis of the American National Election Study has shown that the single best indicator of whether someone is a Trump voter is a positive answer to the question ‘Is Barack Obama a Muslim?’ combined with the fact that they are white. Various other polls have shown strong correlations between support for Trump and explicitly anti-black views, including the belief that non-whites are less evolved than whites. This does not just show the twisting of the truth through the prism of party politics, but the much more sinister role of religious and racial resentment in how people view the world. These kinds of splits between identity groups are anathema to the functioning of multicultural societies. Furthermore, this harms everyone, as in-group/out-group thinking can drive violence on both local and national levels.

The truth itself may be an abstract concept, something which always has and always will be slippery. But the current approach to facts, both within the media and the public at large, is a fundamental threat to the functioning of democracy. Thomas Jefferson believed that ‘Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.’ Yet despite the preponderance of knowledge in the world, can a society lacking in an agreed standard for truth really be considered a functioning democracy?

About Daniel Shaw

Daniel Shaw graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in Politics, and has worked as a researcher in the public sector. He currently lives in Shanghai, where he struggles artlessly to learn Chinese. On dark stormy nights he writes horror stories and in the clear light of day he writes about politics. He is hoping to study for a PhD in Global Security.

Not exactly FDR/Churchill. | “In one phone conversation .. #Trump complained to May over the criticism he’d been getting in British newspapers..He told the prime minister he would not be coming to the U.K. until she could promise him a warm welcome.” bloomberg.com/news/features/…

Very good thread by @pmdfoster on the degree to which ‘progress’ on #Brexit (as if we didn’t know already) is being determined not by what will be best for the UK economy, but solely on the basis of what will delay the next round of bloodletting in the Tory Party. twitter.com/profbriancox/s…

Like Us On Facebook

Global Politics Links

Global Politics on Linkedin
Global Politics Magazine, together with its group on Linked In, is intended to facilitate critical discussion and promote the exchange of ideas amongst international relations professionals, journalists and academics.

Global Politics Facebook Group
Global Politics together with its Facebook group provides a forum in which journalists, academics, international relations professionals and the next generation of global policy makers can exchange insights, debate viewpoints, and develop new approaches.